The Ki-43 was complemented in IJAAF service by another Nakajima design, this was the Ki-44 Shoki (Devil-Queller), considered the Army equivalent of the Ki-43 to what the J2M had been to the Zero. It was intended as a bomber interceptor around Japanese cities or other strategic targets in the occupied territories such as oil fields and as a result, a high priority was given to achieve high speeds and rates of climb contrary to the grand majority of other Japanese fighters (the prototype obtained an impressive 3,900 ft per minute climb with later variants improving on it). The Ki-44 was difficult to handle, claiming the lives of numerous inexperienced pilots in accidents, yet gave a good account of itself in Southeast Asia where they were used to defend oil fields and against B-29 raids later in the war. However, by 1944 it was slowly becoming obsolete and was on the process of being replaced by the Ki-84 when the war ended.

The Ki-44 prototype first flew in August 1940 but only entered production until mid-1942. Only a small number were built, the main production variants being the Ki-44-I and later the Ki-44-II which added a more powerful Ha-109 engine as well as increased pilot and fuel tank protection. Both of these versions had a number of subvariants which differed on account of their armament fits. The last major version was the Ki-44-III with larger wings and tail surfaces in addition to the improved Ha-145 engine.